WRC Digitizing Current Use Parcels
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Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation is again contracting with WRC to digitize parcels enrolled in the state’s Use Value Appraisal Program (commonly known as “current use”). Once this work is complete, all UVA parcels in Windham County will be digitized.
UVA parcels in eleven towns will be digitized by WRC: Athens, Dover, Dummerston, Grafton, Jamaica, Newfane, Townshend, Vernon, Wardsboro, Westminster, and Windham. This builds on a similar effort in 2013 in which five towns were digitized—Brattleboro, Brookline, Londonderry, Putney, and Stratton—and previous digitizing work by the Vermont Land Trust and the Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation.
According to the State of Vermont website, “In 1978 the legislature passed the Use Value Appraisal (Current Use) law. The purpose of the law was to allow the valuation and taxation of farm and forest land based on its remaining in agricultural or forest use instead of its value in the market place. The primary objectives of the program were to keep Vermont's agricultural and forest land in production, help slow the development of these lands, and achieve greater equity in property taxation on undeveloped land.”
Digitizing UVA parcels will not only help the State in their management of the UVA program, but will also help planners identify areas where active and long-term forest management and agriculture are taking place.
The work is expected to be completed in April.
